Francisco Viegas

Regional Policy Advocacy Consultant in Latin America

Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi)

About Francisco

Francisco recently joined DNDi in the position of Regional Policy Advocacy Consultant in Latin America. Prior to joining DNDi, he worked for 7 years in the Ministry of Health of Brazil, mainly providing strategic advice on issues related to access to medicines, innovation, research and development and intellectual property in fora such as the WHO, PAHO, UNITAID, BRICS, MERCOSUR and UNASUR. In this capacity, he has worked closely, since its inception, with the MERCOSUR Ad Hoc Joint Price Negotiation Committee, and also was the focal point for the EU-MERCOSUR FTA Chapter on Intellectual Property. Previously, Francisco has worked in the Brazilian Department of STI, AIDS and Viral Hepatitis preparing technical briefs, market and regulatory landscapes to input into price negotiations for ARVs with pharmaceutical companies and in a Brazilian AIDS civil society organization, where he also helped draft patent oppositions. He is a lawyer with a Master of Laws from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil).